Well, the vigil, funeral, and luncheon were all very nice. I recognize most of the people in Angel’s family by now (even if I can’t always put names to them or place them in the family tree), so I could tell a lot of friends other than family came to pay their respects. There was a chilly breeze, but the sun came out and gave us a nice day for it. I was heartened to see that most people in Quincy still pull over and stop when a funeral procession is going the other way. The ladies at St. Anthony’s put on a great lunch; I was even able to get my fill without going overboard on the carbs.

Photo from Flickr.com

In an odd bit of serendipity, the gravesite was within a few feet of my family’s—so close that when I went looking for ours I didn’t see it at first because we were standing on it.  When Angel and I met, we had no idea that our families knew each other in several different ways, and now her grandparents and my Grandpa Ed are resting almost next door to each other.  Funny how things work out.

Several people mentioned my blog post, which was sort of weird, because I wasn’t writing it with that audience in mind.  I just felt inspired to write something and that’s what came out.  I’m not complaining, though, because blogging is always weird when it intersects with Real Life. Even though it’s completely public and I use my real name, it still feels sort of anonymous because I do it alone here at my desk. When someone in real life says, “I was reading your blog,” my first thought is, “Oh no, I hope I didn’t say anything stupid or offensive lately.” I mean, sure, I know the visitors reported by my stats program are real people, but when they turn out to be family or people I see at church every week, that’s a whole lot more real. It increases the feeling that I always need to post something worthwhile, like maybe my treatise “Why Magnum P.I. Is the Best Show Ever!” isn’t quite the masterpiece I was thinking.

Regularly profound and uplifting posts probably aren’t in the cards, though, so I’ll just keep plugging away with the ordinary ones and get back to daily posting. Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented, here or in person. That post was quite a bit more personal that anything I’ve put here before, and I was still hesitant about posting it even after several rewrites, so it’s nice to know it struck a chord with people.